Powerhouse Women’s Film Festival Gives Dallas a Movie Edge

This year marks the fourth edition of the Women Texas Film Festival, which focuses exclusively on top female filmmakers. From August 15 to August 18, the festival will take place at Texas Theatre, Alamo Drafthouse Cedars and Methodist Dallas’ David H. Hitt Auditorium.

The four-day fest has grown every year and has doubled in content.

“It is getting harder and harder to contain within four days all of the amazing films I find,” Women Texas Film Festival founder and artistic director Justina Walford tells PaperCity. “Three locations. Seventeen features. So many short films that we selected out of an ocean of compelling short film submissions.

“And since our goal is to show the range of the female storyteller, you will see every genre, every style. The notion of gender behind the camera takes a backseat to the grit, emotion and vision projected on the screen. As it should.”

Here are the top five films to see at the Women Texas Film Festival.

Emmett (Boy Genius)

Director: Bridget Stokes

Screenwriter: Vicky Wight

The Closing Night film at the festival, Emmett (Boy Genius) is about a 12 year-old child prodigy who teams up with a quirky retiree to solve a crime and save his family from splitting up. Winner of an Audience Award and Best Actor (Blackish star Miles Brown) at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the film will screen on Sunday, August 18 at the Texas Theatre.

After Emmett’s brother is accused of being involved in a rash of thefts at school, Emmett must prove his innocence before his brother is sent to boarding school. He recruits an SAT tutor and crime novelist to help him find the real culprit. The film also stars Zach Gilford, Rita Wilson and Tracie Thoms.

CRSHD

Director: Emily Cohn

Screenwriter: Emily Cohn

CRSHD follows Izzy, who on the last night of her college freshman year, tries to lose her virginity with the help of her two best friends. Their only hope is getting into an exclusive, invite-only “Crush Party.” The film stars Isabelle Barbier, Shelby Brunn and Daniel Cramer.

The rules of the party: You can submit your crush to have them invited to the party, but you can only get in yourself if somebody else crushes you. But the three friends try to get around the rules to get in and take aim at their crushes.

Showing on Thursday, August 15 at Texas Theatre, the film will be followed by a Q&A with Emily Cohn.

Make Out Party

Director: Emily Esperanza

Screenwriter: Emily Esperanza

This Short Spotlight is a no-budget, high-style comedy of errors that follows three characters through a day of misadventure as they set out to attend a pin-up queen’s Make Out Party. Starring Weston Allen, Sid Branca and Aimee Laine Bueno, the movie is an “outlandish, throw everything funny at the wall to see what sticks comedy.”

Along with the film screening on Friday, August 16 at Texas Theatre, a live band, DJ set will add to the entertainment that will include a feminist spin on a kissing booth among other things to dovetail in a wild and wacky way with the film.

A Perfect 14

Director: Giovanna Morales Vargas

Screenwriter: Giovanna Morales Vargas

Showing on Sunday, August 18, A Perfect 14 explores the world of plus size models fighting to reshape the fashion industry and the beauty standards of society. The film follows the journeys of models Elly Mayday (Canada), Kerosene Deluxe (Netherlands) and Laura Wells (Australia) as they struggle against our culture’s distorted perception of body image.

It also questions the fashion industry leaders and pioneers in the world’s meccas and holds them accountable for their responsibility in size-based segregation. The screening will be at Methodist Dallas Hitt Auditorium at 4 pm on August 18.

The In-Between

Director: Mindy Bledsoe

Screenwriters: Mindy Bledsoe, Rob Senska, Jennifer Stone

Starring screenwriters Mindy Bledsoe and Jennifer Stone, The In-Between follows two women who set out on a road trip with different missions. Mads (Stone) needs to renew her driver’s license in South Dakota, while Junior (Bledsoe) needs to visit Portland, Oregon on a quest for her deceased sister.

Both have medical issues that cause friction along the way. The film screens on Saturday, August 17 at Methodist Dallas Hitt Auditorium at 4 pm.

Find the full schedule for the festival here.